Financing through advertising

Summary

It is a “smart system” with electronic monitoring and standardised IT-based stations with credit card payments, which allowed investment in reasonably advanced and attractive, three-geared bikes. If the bike is not returned in on time or is damaged, a fine is automatically charged to a user.

And Vélib' is a large-scale public-private system, financed through advertising. Paris has signed a contract with JCDecaux, which means that the advertising company bears the full cost of Vélib in return for exclusive control over a certain number of billboards. The model is actually just a development of the company’s previous contracts for bus stops. The feasible funding model is perhaps the main reason for Vélib's success. Problems of theft and vandalism have haunted Vélib' too. As many as 80 percent of all bikes which were put out on the streets the first two years needed to be replaced with new ones.